The Superbowl TV Spots

I haven’t spoken to one person within the last 12 hours that has said that this year’s Superbowl spots were interesting. In fact, I’d go so far to say that for the first time in recent memory, I actually enjoyed the actual game more than the highly anticipated commercials that annually fill the void in between plays. Although there were a few highlights, it was painfully obvious that the FCC’s growing strangle-hold on our 1st amendment has produced a somewhat more cautious and tame approach to Super Bowl advertising. While they’re at it, why don’t they yank away our 5th, 6th, 7th amendments as well, or maybe even the repealment of amendment 18. That’d be awesome.

Regardless, the strong-armed tactics forcing media into working within the constraints that have been established since the infamous “wardrobe malfunction,” shouldn’t have hindered the advertising agencies from coming up with something that could be catching, witty, and follow a coherent narrative. Instead, we get a Bud Light Fire-Breather, a Budweiser Clydesdale ripping off a Rocky montage (a poor continuation of the Donkey-who-becomes-a-Budweiser-Clydesdale storyline) and Carlos Mencia trying to convince us that he’s should be giving out pick-up advice. I don’t want to even get into the CareerBuilder commercials that were, suffice to say, plain creepy. Bud Light was particularly disappointing, especially due to their high record of winning commercials during the game. A guy who hides a six-pack of Bud Light in a block of cheese so that his wife won’t know he’s drinking in the other room? C’mon…

The 2008 Super Bowl Spots – Advertising Age
The 2008 Super Bowl Spots – MySpace.com

I will admit there were a few good ones out there that made me laugh a bit, but nothing that I thought was Super Bowl quality. Specifically, the FedEx Carrier Pigeon commercial and the Bridgestone commercial with the screaming squirrel were favorites of mine, as were the Cars.com spots and the Doritos ad with the giant mouse. I also enjoyed the new take on the consistent heart-warming campaign that Coca-Cola tends to follow, with Stewie and Underdog the balloons, battling it out for a giant inflatable Coca-Cola bottle amidst the skyscrapers of New York, only to have it lost to none other than Charlie Brown. Honestly, I would love to see this continue in a battle of wits between the three iconic characters, whether they stay in balloon form or not.

However, I’m not going to lie to you. My most anticipated spots among the game were mainly saved for the first half…the movie trailers. As a movie junkie, and more specifically a comic-book movie junkie, finally seeing new footage of the recently released Iron Man movie got the blood moving again. The imagery from the film seems to be everything that a fan of the comic could ask for, along with the inspired casting of Robert Downey Jr. in the role of Tony Stark and Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, aka Iron Monger. The new Wall-E spot only further convinced me that Pixar is near perfect when it comes to character animation, and the Prince Caspian trailer was nothing more than a new edit of old footage, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Basically what it comes down to is that when Super Bowl time rolls around again next year, and the first spot airs, I’m not going to wonder if they’re going to outshine this year’s ads, but instead pray that they’re simply less forgettable, and that maybe next time that Audi will actually hit Richard Simmons instead of turning to avoid him.